miscellaneous rants and raves

in a perpetual state of catching up with my blog. like the pile of books, ideas keep piling up and collecting dust or being forgotten. this annoys me.

you know what else is annoying? insomnia. i've had more than my fair share of sleeping/not sleeping issues. on the whole, it's just plain boring to be awake and not wanting to be. i suspect the main cause this time to be the inattentive barista at starbucks giving me a caffeinated mocha and not the DECAF i requested. mistakes happen, i understand - i've been a barista. but when you only have ONE CUSTOMER in the store, you better DAMN WELL get the order right. thanks for the time i spent at 3 am watching asinine youtube clips for lack of anything better to do. (it may be time to go on another caffeine hiatus)

which brings me to my next rant - coffee and espresso beverages are just plain better in vancouver and seattle. while i was up there i had some outstanding cups o' joe and the highest quality foam on lattes i have seen in a good while. see - i told you i used to be a barista, and in vancouver at that. two thumbs up to the many indie coffee shops up there that take the time to train their baristas right and roast some damn fine tasting coffee beans. if you are a major coffeemaker that rhymes with "glarbucks" or or "veet's" - take the time to establish some quality control and learn how to really steam milk. (this also applies to the many indie coffee shops here in the bay area, not just the big guys. so much for being coffee snobs here.)

speaking of which, a few weeks ago i had a latte from "veet's" that i swore was a cup of dirt and hot water flavored with a paper napkin that had wiped up some vanilla syrup. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. this statment should be taken seriously because it was written in all caps. the beverage quality could just apply to the one near my church, since that is the one i (used to) frequent. since "veet's" originated in this area, people are absolutely fanatical about them, but i am not impressed - and some would say i am blaspheming here. ooh, it tastes strong? that means it's probably been roasted to a crisp - and the real kicker is that there is less caffeine when that happens. it pains me a little to say this, but i tend to prefer "glarbucks" - at least for the espresso drinks, the baristas seem to know what's going on (though the night-time energizer i mentioned earlier was from there). i have never had to explain what "skim milk" is to someone there, like i had to do once at "veet's." yes, this "barista" actually said to me, "what is skim milk?" my jaw dropped. "ummm... nonfat milk?" "ooooh, right, okay."

wow. that obviously needed to get out of my head. more later.